Tom Homan, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said illegal border crossings are at a 45-year low because President Donald Trump has taken border security seriously.

According to numbers from ICE, federal immigration authorities deported fewer illegal immigrants in 2017 than in 2016, even as they arrested far more people suspected of being in the United States illegally.

ICE removed approximately 226,000 people from the country in the 2017 fiscal year, which ended on September 30, down six percent from 2016.

During the same time period, the agency arrested more than 110,000 people, a 42 percent increase over the prior year.

"Under this president, who's now letting us do our job and taking the handcuffs off the men and women of the Border Patrol and ICE, arrests are up," Homan said on "America's Newsroom." "The overall removals are down because the Border Patrol has reported a 45-year low in illegal border crossings."

He said that number dropped dramatically because Trump has taken border security seriously.

"That's why overall deportations are down," Homan said. "However, if you look at ICE deportations, people that are arrested in the interior and were removed, those numbers are up almost 40 percent."

A Florida school shooting victim’s father thanked the White House on Wednesday for holding a listening session with victims and their families, adding that he pledged to find a solution to school shootings.